Dear Mr.Sharara,
it is great, that you participate in this forum.
I haven't read all the posts, so I don't know, if these two topics were already discussed, but I want to address them anyway.
As I understand, the ITTF wants to increase the popularity of Table Tennis, particularly on TV. I think, one major problem, why it is not very enjoyable to watch (for a non-player like my girlfriend for instance) is that the camera views and slowmotions. They are often from weird angles and slowmotions don't really help, because TT is too fast.
I remember one fairly good counterexample, I believe it was the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Did the ITTF think about trying to influence, HOW TT is shown on TV?
Trying to influence that more cameras for different angles are used and maybe special equipment for better (higher resolution) slowmotions?
I guess, it is difficult to enforce something that costs TV stations money to show a sport they are not particularly interested in in the first place.
Then there is something else that strikes me:
for Table Tennis we have (as in Tennis) team leagues and singles tournaments. It seems to me, for both it is wanted to increase the popularity on TV. Tennis for instance is only popular for the ATP tour, hence singles tournaments. Only Tennis players follow the leagues, which might be - similar to TT - due to the fact, that it is not a real team sport, but a group of singles and doubles players, whose results are counted together.
What I think should be propagated more is to show the tournaments on TV. Push the Pro Tour, count the tournaments and points the players gather to qualify for the Grand Finals (as for the "Masters" in Tennis). I think that promises more success than to show league matches.
What do you think?
Once again, I highly appreciate that you take your valuable time to listen to us here. This, honestly, makes me love Table Tennis even more! (Could you imagine Joseph Blatter participate in a Spanish soccer forum?
)
Kind regards,
Dirk Breitbach
Edit: after rereading my post, I guess it is actually just one topic...